Michael Andlauer at Ottawa Senators helm

Article posted by Coliseum, October 5^th, 2023

Image: Scotia Bank Place, Sikander Iqbal, Public Domain

The sale of the National Hockey League (NHL) team Ottawa Senators is finally official.

‘AP’ stated that the NHL announced recently that the transfer of the club to a group led by Michael Andlauer (Canadian businessman) has been unanimously approved by the league’s Board of Governors, and that the transaction has been completed.

New York (US)-based the National Hockey League (NHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams – 25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the league playoff champion at the end of each season. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and is considered to be the top-ranked professional ice hockey league in the world with players from 18 countries as of the 2022-2023 seasons.

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The Ottawa Senators, officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa (Canada). They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference and play their home games at the 18,652-seat Canadian Tire Centre which opened in 1996 as the Palladium.

The 18,652-capacity Canadian Tire Centre is a multipurpose arena in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, located in the Western suburb of Kanata. It opened in January 1996 as the Palladium and was also known as the Corel Centre from 1996 to 2006 and the Scotiabank Place from 2006 to 2013. It serves as the home facility of the Ottawa Senators.

‘AP’ further stated that the Senators said Andlauer will assume control of the team’s operations effective immediately.

The Andlauer group reached an agreement to purchase the club in June for nearly $1 billion.

Andlauer said in a release, “The Ottawa Senators Hockey Club is an amazing organization, from the players, to the staff, to the most passionate fan base in the game. My family and I are thrilled to officially be a part of Ottawa’s team and the Ottawa-Gatineau community.”

The Senators went up for sale last November following the death of the owner Eugene Melnyk whose daughters are retaining 10 percent of the team.

Andlauer was also approved by the American Hockey League’s (AHL’s) Board of Directors to take ownership of the Belleville Senators, Ottawa’s AHL affiliate.

Springfield (US)-based the American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). When the NHL teams do not have an AHL affiliate, the players are assigned to the AHL teams affiliated with the other NHL teams.

The Belleville Senators are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) that began play in the 2017-2018 seasons as the top minor league affiliate of the National Hockey League team, the Ottawa Senators. Based in Belleville, Ontario, Canada, the Senators play their home games at the 4,365-capacity CAA Arena.

Andlauer is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Andlauer Healthcare Group which owns the healthcare supply chain companies and is the founder of the Toronto-based merchant bank Bulldog Capital Partners.

His ownership group includes the Farm Boy grocery store Co-CEO Jeff York and the Malhotra family, owners of the Ottawa real estate development giant Claridge Homes.

Bill Malhotra, a visionary in the real estate industry, is the founder and head honcho of Claridge Homes, one of Ottawa’s largest property development firms. Malhotra established Claridge in 1986, and under his leadership, the company has built over 14,000 homes, including condos, houses and retirement communities.

The NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said in September that finalizing the sale had been complicated by the number of investors under the Andlauer umbrella.

The approval of the sale was announced on the opening day of the NHL training camps.

The Senators haven’t made it to the playoffs since 2017, when they fell a goal short in the Eastern Conference final.

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